Software For Diagramming Database Relations? 13
etrnl asks: "I'm designing several websites with databases, and even designing a message board that supports multiple RDBMSes. What I'm looking for is a tool under Unix that I can use to diagram the relationships of different databases. Right now I'm using myODBC, myAccess, and Access 2k but there's got to be something better in the Open Source community (outside of using dia by hand...). I'm looking for support for mySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle if possible."
Sorry Mate (Score:3)
There is a {free | open source} product which is called TCM [utwente.nl].
It is not specifically an ERD editor, but provides a set of various diagramming editors and tools.
Overall I like it, but since it attempts to support a lot of diagrams, I don't perceive it as very strong in the ERD area.
If you don't want to delve into details (attributes, constraints) and remain on a fairly high level (entities), this might work for you.
Usual disclaimer: It's 6 month ago when I tried it, it might have improved a lot...
Personally, I use W2K and a product called DeZign [demon.nl], which is reasonably priced and offers a cripple ware version for download and trial.
Good Luck..
Automatic layout from DDL? (Score:2)
I've done QA on about a dozen apps based on a variety of databases, and one of the things I've often wanted is a tool that could read in the DDL for a database and spit out an ERD. Great for maintaining documentation on an RDBMS and for getting a quick idea of an undocumented one.
Heck, just being able to automatically layout a directed graph would be a big step in the right direction! Does anyone have know of any tools for doing this?
Re:ERWin (Score:1)
I didn't know that it was still being sold though; I thought it was an orphaned application. I'll have to see if there have been any updates from what I've got!
Jon
I'm working on one.... (Score:1)
Embarcadero ER/Studio (Score:1)
The best package I've seen is unfortunately Windows-only: Embarcadero ER/Studio [embarcadero.com]
Supports forward- and reverse- diagramming (i.e. diagram from SQL, SQL from diagram) and supports the following databases:
Probably worth taking a look-- at my last company we did some hardcore DB design, and this is what the DB wizards used to do the data modelling.
Re:Automatic layout from DDL? (Score:1)
Oracle Designer (Score:2)
I have experience with only two CASE tools, so my input will be limited, and both work strictly under M$ Windows. I've worked with Popkin's System Architect, and in my experience it is the most bug-ridden PITA program I've ever used, in any category.
I'm currently using Oracle Designer, and I've been highly impressed, with a few reservations. Designer allows you to draw your ERD, then run a transformer to generate the physical design model. After you run the transformer, you can put in all your code, indexes, triggers, etc.
Then, you press a button, and your DDL scripts come out. Dead easy.
Theoretically, it'll also let you reverse engineer from a connection to a database. I say theoretically because I've not tried it.
Designer (obviously) will work REALLY WELL with Oracle. It'll allow you to generate Oracle-specific code (for versions 6 and up, IIRC) from, basically, soup-to-nuts of your back-end: table creation, constraints, indexes, triggers, and stored procedures -- in both PL/SQL and (theoretically, I haven't attempted it yet) Java.
Designer will also output SQL dialect for other varieties of databases: SQL Server, Sybase, Informix, DB2 are all included, IIRC. But most importantly for you, it will also export in ANSI92 SQL. So, PostgreSQL (I don't have any experience with mySQL) at least will be able to use the generated scripts with (hopefully) minimal by-hand modification.
I have some reservations regarding Designer, in that it seems to have several bugs. I say "seems", because it looks like there may be workarounds (or "the proper way to do things") that I simply haven't figured out yet. I've not found them to be deal-breakers as a tool choice yet, mostly because I can (and do) always go in and edit the resultant scripts by hand to tweak things here and there. However, my volume isn't high, and I don't have an unreasonable time commitment for completion. If you need your generated code to be 100% perfect all the time, well, Designer doesn't do that for me. YMMV.
Good luck!
Re:Automatic layout from DDL? (Score:1)
Re:ERWin (Score:1)
We wound up going with ER/Studio from Embarcadero Technologies. Same capabilities, and less than half the price. I use it for just what the original poster was asking about, reverse-engineering other people's databases so I can get a handle on their config. Best part is, I can reverse-engineer an SQL Server DB and have it spit me out a build script for Oracle to use when porting, woo hoo!
ErWin's a good tool, no doubt about that, but you pay for every feature you get.
Re:ERWin (Score:2)
No, it's around US$3.5K. If you get ModelMart, web publishing, etc, then it can go up.
I have it, and like it, generally. The biggest problem I have with it is that since they were bought twice (LogicWorks -> Platinum -> CA), they have been very slow to update the product.
It does not support PostgreSQL, MySQL, or any of the other open source database systems. They are also falling behind on support for commercial databases, such as DB2. They do not support any of the features in DB2 introduced since UDB 5.2 a few years ago.
They've been promising a major upgrade for ages, and it's way late. As a paying customer, I'm pretty unhappy with them, as I've been forced to go back to the "old school" method of keeping my DDL in flat files.
A pox on Computer Associates and all their houses, unless they get their act together Real Soon Now.
Gordon.
Re:ERWin (Score:1)
Yes, it is still sold and supported (though CA are dragging their feet about updates). You can find the support page at:
Gordon.
Software for Diagramming Database Relations? (Score:1)
Re:Software for Diagramming Database Relations? (Score:1)